


Whatever

by gblvr



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-30
Updated: 2010-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-06 20:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gblvr/pseuds/gblvr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinner with the Fellowship was always noisy and fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whatever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [draconiarose](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=draconiarose).



Dinner with the Fellowship was always noisy and fun, and depending on who chose the restaurant, it could be quite adventurous. Tonight had been John's turn, so he had not only found the restaurant, a tiny Moroccan place tucked away in a quiet Wellington neighborhood, he'd ordered all the food. There were dishes covering the entirety of the table, from meats to vegetables to saffron-yellow couscous, most of it things that Billy'd not seen before.

As a matter of fact, only a few of the others had eaten this type of food. Dom and John were explaining the different dishes to the others, each taking a side of the low, round table. Dom had just told the rest of the hobbits and Orli what the various meats were, and Elijah looked a bit skeptical. He watched as the others helped themselves to lamb, onion and roasted pepper kabobs, but didn't reach for one of his own.

Orli noticed, and speared a chunk of lamb on his fork. He offered it to Elijah, saying, "You won't know if you like it unless you taste it, 'Lij. It's delicious."

Elijah leaned toward the fork, making an obvious show of sniffing the meat on it.

Dom snickered a bit and said, "Don't smell it, just eat it."

"But Dom, if I don't smell it, how will I know I _want_ to eat it?"

Orli waved the fork under Elijah's nose a bit, making "mmm" noises. "Come on, 'Lij, have I lead you astray yet?"

Sean snorted a bit and said, "That all depends on your definition of 'astray', Orli."

The rest of the men around the table burst out laughing as Elijah wrinkled his nose at Sean, and took the bite Orlando was offering.

"Well?" Orli's voice was soft, so soft that Billy barely heard what he said, and the look on his face was puppy-dog hopeful.

"Okay -- I admit it -- you're right. This is good...."

Sean bumped shoulders with him before saying "told you so," and Viggo and Bean just chuckled a bit at the look on Elijah's face before turning back to John and Ian to continue their discussion of the day's filming.

Billy watched as Sean and Orli fussed over Elijah, putting food onto his plate, making sure he had enough to drink. Billy was sure that it was the mother-hen instinct that made Sean act as he did, but he was sure Orli had other motives.

It was obvious that was how Dom saw it too, because he was watching Elijah and Orli very carefully - sitting back and really watching them in that overly-still way that told Billy that Dom was on the verge of figuring something out. Billy knew this look -- he'd seen it often enough to know that once Dom figured out whatever it was, something would happen. Sometimes the something was good -- like when he'd finally gotten the hang of surfing, and could stay up on the board for more than a few seconds at a time; sometimes it was funny -- Tig was a side-effect of boredom and too much of that preternatural stillness; and sometimes it was downright terrifying -- like when he'd looked at Billy, _really_ looked at him, and figured out he was gay, and asked him point blank if it were true.

Billy wondered what would happen this time; wondered if Dom would wait to ask Orli what he was doing in private, or if he'd put it out on the table, so to speak, for everyone to see and question. He hoped that Dom would wait -- he liked to think he was a good judge of character, and he wanted Orli to have a fair chance with 'Lij, because they both deserved a little happiness. It wasn't that Billy thought Dom couldn't make him happy -- it was more that he wanted Dom for himself. He just had to figure out how to tell him that without losing his friendship, and before he did something like fight Orli for Elijah's attentions....

"...what I see?"

Billy tuned into what Ian was saying to him only partway through; he tore his attention away from Dom, and looked to his left, meeting Ian's eyes before saying, "Pardon?"

"I was asking if you were seeing what I see? It seems that young Elijah has an admirer." Ian edged his chin towards Orli, smiling and nodding a bit before looking back to Billy. "Orlando is quite smitten with him, don't you think?"

Billy nodded and said, "I was thinking the same thing. He might have a bit of competition, though."

"Oh, really? What makes you say that?"

"Dom's been watching them all night, and now he's got his thinking face on -- we all know what that means."

Ian frowned a bit at that, and said, "I don't believe that Dominic is interested in Elijah. He seems to have pinned his hopes on someone else."

As if he knew he was being discussed, Dom looked away from Elijah and Orli, and focused instead on Billy and Ian. When he made eye contact with Billy, he raised one brow interrogatively, asking what was happening.

Billy couldn't look away from Dom as he asked, "He has?"

"Yes, I do believe so. I think it is a choice that will please you, as well."

Billy looked away from Dom, to Ian, who was looking at Dom, and smiling. He looked back at Dom, and saw that he was blushing.

"Ian?"

"Surely you've noticed? Dom has been watching you and wearing his -- what did you call it? Oh yes, his thinking face -- for some time now. Several weeks, at least." Ian sighed a bit and continued, "When Peter asked me to be in the cast, I had no idea there would be so many entertaining plot twists outside the film -- and played out by such pretty young men too...."

Billy just gaped at him for a few more seconds, unable to process what he'd just heard. He needed to think a bit, needed to figure out if he thought Ian was right, and if he was, how he could have missed something a big as _that_. Dom wanted him?

Scrambling off the pillow he was seated on, Billy stammered an apology to Ian, and backed away from the table. He only turned when he crashed into the wall of the dining alcove; without another word, he rushed out of the suddenly stifling restaurant, and onto the sidewalk, where the air was cooler and he could breathe.

Billy decided to walk around the block a few times, to clear his head and to calm down enough to go back and make his apologies before leaving -- he needed to be alone, but he didn't want the others to worry. He was nearly to the corner when he heard Dom calling his name. Understanding that it was stupid in his present frame of mind, but knowing that Dom wouldn't give up, Billy stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Oi, Bills -- you all right?"

Billy took a deep breath before nodding. He was all right -- he just needed to think, and he couldn't do that here, with Dom standing so close to him.

Dom reached out and grasped his arm, turning Billy to face him before grasping his chin, and raising his face. "Truth, Billy. I want the truth -- none of that I'm-fine-and-then-we-don't-see-you-for-days shit. Are you all right? You looked -- well, you looked a bit gobsmacked back there."

Billy couldn't meet Dom's eyes -- it was hard enough to speak with Dom's fingers against his skin. "I'm just. It was a bit warm in there, and Ian and I were. Well. He told me something, and I need to think a bit, and it was so loud and I just want to know-" Billy stopped himself abruptly, closing his mouth with an audible snap of teeth.

Dom just looked at him, eyebrow once again raised. When Billy made it clear that he wasn't going to go on by stepping backwards, out of Dom's reach, Dom followed him.

Billy walked backwards until he was against a wall, and still Dom followed. Billy looked up, away from Dom, up the street, swallowing hard to regain his composure before trying again. "I'm fine, really. I just needed some air."

Dom reached out again, this time cupping Billy's cheek in his hand to turn his face. When Billy looked down to avoid Dom's eyes, afraid of what he might reveal, Dom said, "Look at me."

Billy did as Dom asked, and met his eyes. He expected the worry -- Dom was positively vibrating with it -- and the questions, but he didn't expect to see the same earnest hopefulness he'd seen earlier in Orlando's eyes. He stared at Dom for a long time, wondering if maybe Ian was right, and what he should do about it.

Something of what he was feeling must have shown itself in his eyes, because as he watched, he could see Dom's eyes change. The worry melted away, and was replaced by a heat that Billy had only ever hoped he'd see directed his way. Billy closed his eyes in relief -- Ian _was_ right.

Dom smoothed his hand over Billy's cheek and into his hair, as he leaned in close and whispered against Billy's ear. "I'm going to do something that I've wanted to do for a long time. After that, if you want to hit me, or walk away, or whatever, that's fine. But first, I'm going to kiss you, Billy Boyd."

Billy's breathe caught in his chest as soon as Dom started to whisper in his ear; he was too scared to move, to speak, in case he somehow missed something -- he wanted to remember this, and savor it, keeping it close in case this was just another dream. When Dom pressed his lips to the corner of Billy's mouth, Billy's fear dissipated, and he turned his face into the kiss, meeting Dom's open lips with tongue and teeth.

When they parted, Dom was the first to speak. "Can I assume you're not going to hit me?"

Billy pretended to consider the question before he shook his head. He grasped Dom's hand in his, and said, "Nope, not even going to walk away. The whatever, though? I'm probably up for that."

Dom's smile was beautifully wicked as he said, "I can probably arrange some whatever."

**Author's Note:**

> Written for greenqueen's flash fic-a-thon; the recipient was draconiarose, who wanted either domlijah or monaboyd, and the phrase "Don't smell it, just eat it."
> 
> I've shamelessly used the Ian-as-yenta plot device here, so please forgive me in advance. I've probably screwed the Britishisms, too.


End file.
